Paul Kendall Niven Jr. (September 20, 1924 – January 7, 1970) was CBS television journalist and presidential debate moderator. He was one of Ed Murrow's team of reporters at CBS. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, he and his family returned to Brunswick, Maine in 1931. He was the son of Paul K. Niven Sr., the editor and newspaper publisher of The Brunswick Record.

Early life

Niven grew up in

Brunswick, Maine Brunswick is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. The population was 21,756 at the 2020 United States Census. Part of the Portland-South Portland-Biddeford metropolitan area, Brunswick is home to Bowdoin College, the Bowdoin Intern ...

at 26 Longfellow Ave. His childhood home was located next to

Bowdoin College Bowdoin College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Brunswick, Maine. When Bowdoin was chartered in 1794, Maine was still a part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The college offers 34 majors and 36 minors, as well as several joint eng ...

and across from Pickard Field. Niven graduated from Bowdoin College with an A.B. degree in 1946.

Military service

He joined the US Army Air Force in 1943, and left the service in 1946.

Work experience

After attending post-graduate school at the

London School of Economics and Political Science , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

Niven went to work on the London staff of CBS news. Niven also wrote for the

Manchester Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

. While in London Niven covered the British 1950-1951 elections, the 1953

coronation A coronation is the act of placement or bestowal of a coronation crown, crown upon a monarch's head. The term also generally refers not only to the physical crowning but to the whole ceremony wherein the act of crowning occurs, along with the ...

of Queen Elizabeth. From France he covered the United Nations Assembly. Niven also documented the rise of

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...

, and the triumph of

Van Cliburn Harvey Lavan "Van" Cliburn Jr. (; July 12, 1934February 27, 2013) was an American pianist who, at the age of 23, achieved worldwide recognition when he won the inaugural International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1958 during the Cold Wa ...

in Moscow. After work in England. Niven was hired to head up the new news department for WTOP just purchased from CBS station in Washington DC by

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

publisher

Phil Graham Philip Leslie Graham (July 18, 1915 – August 3, 1963) was an American newspaperman. He served as publisher and later co-owner of ''The Washington Post'' and its parent company, The Washington Post Company. During his years with the Post Comp ...

. He was recruited by Ed Murrow to work for CBS. Moderator of

face the nation ''Face the Nation'' is a weekly news and morning public affairs program airing Sundays on the CBS radio and television network. Created by Frank Stanton in 1954, ''Face the Nation'' is one of the longest-running news programs in the history o ...

from 1961 thru 1965. From January to October 1959 Niven was Moscow bureau chief for CBS News and heard daily on the

CBS World News Roundup The ''CBS World News Roundup'' is the longest-running network radio newscast in the United States. It airs weekday mornings and evenings on the CBS Radio Network. It first went on-air on March 13, 1938, at 8 p.m. ET as a one-time special in res ...

radio show. On October 8, 1958 the Soviet Union closed the CBS News Bureau in Moscow and ordered Niven to leave Russia because the CBS show ''

Playhouse 90 ''Playhouse 90'' was an American television anthology series, anthology drama series that aired on CBS from 1956 to 1960 for a total of 133 episodes. The show was produced at CBS Television City in Los Angeles, California. Since live anthology dr ...

'' had broadcast "The Plot to Kill Stalin" on September 25. Niven left on October 13.

National Educational Television

On July 7, 1966 Niven left CBS for

National Educational Television National Educational Television (NET) was an American non-commercial educational, educational terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Ford Foundation and later co-owned by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. It o ...

as its lead correspondent, for which he interviewed

Svetlana Alliluyeva Svetlana Iosifovna Alliluyeva, born Stalina (); ka, სვეტლანა იოსების ასული ალილუევა () (28 February 1926 – 22 November 2011), later known as Lana Peters, was the youngest child and only ...

, daughter of Soviet dictator

Josef Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...

. She said that since her father's death (on March 5, 1953), the Soviet Union had not changed despite "de-Stalinization" and that Russia's leaders had even taken "steps backwards." She was interviewed in connection with the publication of her memoir "''Far-Away Music''".

Burma experience

Niven spent the last six months of 1956 touring Burma for a "

See It Now ''See It Now'' is an American newsmagazine and documentary series broadcast by CBS from 1951 to 1958. It was created by Edward R. Murrow and Fred W. Friendly, with Murrow as the host of the show. From 1952 to 1957, ''See It Now'' won four Emmy ...

" show.

Death

Niven died from head trauma as a result of house fire at his home in Washington, D.C. on January 8, 1970.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Niven, Paul K., Jr. 1924 births 1970 deaths People from Boston People from Greater Boston United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II Bowdoin College alumni Alumni of the London School of Economics American expatriates in the United Kingdom Deaths from fire in the United States Deaths from head injury